Higher Education Week

The Early Academic Outreach Program (EAOP) at UC Santa Barbara will hold its annual spring Higher Education Week, a four-day traveling college fair, beginning on Tuesday, March 8. Representatives from universities, colleges and other institutions of higher education will visit high school campuses in Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties to meet with high school juniors and discuss post-secondary education opportunities.

The visits include brief presentations on financial aid and college admissions followed by college fairs. The first will take place at Pacific, Santa Paula and Fillmore high schools on Tuesday, March 8. The event will move to Channel Islands, Rio Mesa and Oxnard high schools Wednesday, March 9. College fairs will be held at Dos Pueblos, San Marcos and Carpinteria high schools Thursday, March 10, and the week will conclude with visits to Santa Maria and Righetti high schools Friday, March 11.

In all, more than 4,000 high school juniors will meet with representatives from the UC, Cal State and California Community College systems. A host of other private and public colleges and universities will be represented, including Brooks Institute; University of the Pacific; the New School of Architecture and Design; the San Francisco Academy of Art; and the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, among others.

Out-of-state colleges and universities represented include the University of Hawaii, Manoa; Virginia Commonwealth University; and the University of Nevada, Reno.

Also participating in the event is the Santa Barbara Scholarship Foundation.

“The EAOP Central Coast Higher Ed Week brings 30 to 40 representatives from various colleges and universities to 12 high schools in four days across two counties,” said EAOP Director Britt Ortiz. “And we impact over 4,000 high school students from Santa Maria all the way down to Fillmore.

“We are opening the doors to higher education opportunities and we are able to bring these opportunities directly to the students at their participating high schools,” he continued. “We hope to motivate the junior class students to consider the possibilities and various options for continuing their education beyond high school. Ideally, Higher Education Week will lead them to an educational and career path of their choice that keeps them motivated to apply to college going into their senior year.”

UCSB EAOP seeks to raise student achievement and close achievement gaps to increase the number of students who have the opportunity to attain a postsecondary education. EAOP focuses on four key strategies — academic advising, college knowledge, academic enrichment and entrance exam preparation — to help students reach college eligibility and participate in higher education.

A variety of pre-college programs offered on an annual basis give students the opportunity to visit UCSB, tour campus labs, meet with faculty members and conduct research or participate in other academic enrichment activities. Among the programs and services are annual transcript evaluation, academic advisement, academic achiever’s receptions, study skills and testing strategies, college readiness seminars, the Education-Leadership-Careers Conference, UC Success Night and college readiness academies.